This paper reports on a study of how students' reasoning about socioscientific issues is framed by three dynamics: societal structures, agency and how trust and security issues are handled. Examples from gene technology were used as the forum for interviews with 13 Swedish high-school students (year 11, age 17-18). A grid based on modalities from…

The article explores how education promotes social change. Using the philosophical foundations of adult education outlined by Elias and Merriam (2001, "Philosophical foundations of adult education" (3rd ed.), Krieger) as an analytical framework, the article compares the similarities and differences between popular education forms in two…

There is extensive research pointing to the positive effects of education in the form of labour market outcomes. These outcomes are vital when evaluating education; there are however additional outcomes of education that might also be important for quality of life. From this point of view, education could affect non-market areas such as democracy,…

Sweden has recently seen three major political attempts to empower parents through national regulations--the transferal of authority from the state to district school boards, the heavy promotion of independent schools, and the introduction of local school boards at municipality schools. This article provides an overview of these developments by…

Intercultural dialogue is a concept and discourse that dates back to the 1980s. It is the major means for managing diversity and strengthening democracy within Europe and beyond. It has been adopted by the United Nations, UNESCO and the Council of Europe as the basis for interreligious and interfaith initiatives and has become increasingly…